By David Crystal

New from Cambridge University Press!

By Peter Mark Roget

This book "supplies a vocabulary of English words and idiomatic phrases 'arranged … according to the ideas which they express'. The thesaurus, continually expanded and updated, has always remained in print, but this reissued first edition shows the impressive breadth of Roget's own knowledge and interests."

This book is a revised and extended version of Topintzi's 2006 thesis fromUniversity College London. The work offers an extensive presentation of ahistorically controversial topic, namely the moraicity of segments located inthe onset position of a syllable. Topintzi provides a compelling argument infavor of the presence of two types of moraic onsets (underlying and coerced)that places all syllable constituents on equal standing regarding their abilityto associate with a mora. The just-noted language-specific differences in theseproperties are attributed to the ranking of optimality theoretic constraints ononset markedness. The author presents typological evidence drawn from a diverseset of languages in support of her claim that moraic onsets clearly exist in thelanguages of the world but have been glossed over for theoretical reasons bymany phonologists. Phenomena such as compensatory lengthening, stress,gemination, and word minimality effects are discussed, among others. Topintzi'snew theory acts as an extension of standard Hayesian (1989) moraic theory byadmitting moraic onsets; however it still retains the ability to distinguishbetween languages that have them and those that do not.

SUMMARY

Chapter 1 presents Topintzi's theory of onset moraicity by reviewing the failureof other theories of syllable and moraic structure to entertain an account oflanguages and phenomena in which onset weight can be implicated. The initialfocus is on stress, for which she presents a typology of languages where eitherthe quality of an onset, the presence of an onset, or both can be responsiblefor stress patterning. Throughout the book, onset moraicity is framed alongsidecoda moraicity, more specifically in regards to the fact that the presence vs.absence of coda moraicity is a language-specific feature that, seldomchallenged, can be either an underlying or coerced characteristic. Along thesesame lines, the author argues that onset moras can also be distinctive andsupplied underlyingly (i.e. true geminates) or similarly coerced or induced byconstraint. The latter situation is introduced in this chapter in terms of theranking of three key markedness constraints, and most importantly *μ/Ons/[+voi]>> Be Moraic >> *μ/Ons, which becomes the focus of discussion in Chapter 2. Viathis ranking, onset-sensitive stress can be discussed in languages where eitherthe quality of the onset (QO, e.g. Karo), the presence of the onset (PO, e.g.Aranda), or both (e.g. Pirahã) come into play in stress assignment patterns. The necessity of this ranking is clearest in QO languages, where the authorargues that [-voice] sounds make the best moraic onsets. Sonorant onsets can bemoraic onsets depending on their specification in a given language for thefeature [voice]. This particular onset phenomenon differs markedly from theanalogous situation in codas where sonority, rather than voice, is most closelylinked to moraicity. PO languages are discussed in terms of stress-on-onset vs.onset-on-stress systems where, simply put, onsetless syllables in stressedpositions acquire onsets and stress falls on a specific syllable unless it isonsetless, respectively. Languages like Pirahã utilize a combination ofcharacteristics for weight (e.g. length, onset presence, and voicing) andnecessitate a slightly different analysis. Overall, the author argues thatcertain languages have the ability to alter their prosodic and/or structuralcharacteristics in response to the requirements of stress assignment. Moreover,the languages illustrated do so based upon the characteristics of syllable onsets.

Topintzi, in Chapter 3, next targets onsets as either the trigger or target ofvarious instances of compensatory lengthening. A key point of this chapter isthe author's proposal that noted onset-related compensatory lengtheningphenomena require that this process must not be viewed as one that acts topreserve moras, but rather one that preserves positions, whether segmental orprosodic. This point is motivated via the proposal of a cover constraint,Position Correspondence (PosCorr), that acts like other Identity(I-O)constraints in demanding faithfulness to a given position, whether via thepreservation of a root node or a mora. Furthermore, in this chapter, Topintzipresents her argument that onset moraicity is a property evaluated on alanguage-specific basis, just as has come to be accepted for coda moraicity. Alanguage's ranking of PosCorr among others markedness constraints, andcritically above a P-Dep-μ constraint (i.e. do not insert a non-positionalmora-licenser), motivates deletion either with or without compensatorylengthening. By introducing several additional highly-ranked and powerfulconstraints, Topintzi is able to formalize noted outcomes in certain languages,particularly Samothraki Greek. She then problematizes the idea of compensatorylengthening (CL) as mora preservation, as argued for in Hayes (1989), as well asKavitskaya's (2002) phonetic account of the process. Topintzi discusses theinherent issue encountered in a Hayesian CL analysis, specifically thatproposing the assignment of a mora via Weight by Position, as Hayes does,necessitates either seriality of derivation (an idea not supported in classicOptimality Theory) or the assignment of an underlying mora (a violation ofRichness of the Base (Prince & Smolensky 1993/2004)). Topintzi's account of CL,however, penalizes position loss without reference to the underlying moraicrepresentation of a given word. A complicating factor to her analysis is theintroduction of a variety of other powerful constraints to motivate certainother types of CL noted in the languages of the world.

An exceptionally interesting portion of this book is Chapter 4 in which Topintzidiscusses the role of onset moraicity in meeting word minimality requirements,specifically in Bella Coola (e.g. Bagemihl 1991). The author explains thatBella Coola represents a unique instance in which the ranking of Be Moraic ispromoted, given the ability in this language for any consonant to be a moraiconset, i.e. Be Moraic >> *μ/Ons/[+voi] >> *μ/Ons. This unique quality, however,is only witnessed in CV syllables where this constraint ranking, alongsideothers demanding such attributes as minimal bimoraicity but militating againstsegment insertion, compel onsets to either gain or retain their moraicity. Furthermore, these requirements and their relationship to restrictions on wordmaximality (via Root-Max) and a relatively high-ranked MParse (e.g. Prince &Smolensky 1993/2004) place tight bounds on the overall process.

Chapter 5 focuses on the information that geminates and gemination can supply insupport of onset moraicity. In this chapter, Topintzi focuses on underlying or'true' geminates, i.e. the idea that underlyingly moraic consonants can surfaceas geminates in both onset and coda positions. The author argues that thewell-known 'flopped' geminate structure in which a geminate consonant issyllabified as part of both a moraic coda and a non-moraic onset is inadequateand rather ill-informed. Furthermore, she takes as an issue the fact thatduration is not necessarily a phonetic correlate of geminates, but rather thatoften the increased length of geminates results only from syllabification.Drawing evidence from Pattani Malay, Topintzi presents a case in which aregularized pattern of final stress is altered in words containing an initialgeminate consonant, suggesting therefore that the initial geminate carriesweight, renders its syllable heavy, and attracts stress. Initial geminates,thus, act as moraic onsets. Topintzi next takes up the case of Trukese,described in more detail by Davis & Torretta (1998), to illustrate theinteraction between word minimality and compensatory lengthening. In Trukese, abimoraic word minimality condition can be satisfied by either a long vowel or aninitial geminate, and furthermore, additional processes that delete a mora (andthereby yield a potential word minimality violation) can be compensated for (insome instances) via the creation of an onset geminate. What is key in thischapter is that underlying moraic consonants that are syllabified as onsets canparticipate in the same phonological processes as their coerced counterpartsdiscussed earlier. Topintzi also explores the properties of word-medialgeminates to illustrate that they, too, can function as onsets, rather thanbeing contained in a 'flopped' structure. This argument is shown mostconvincingly for Marshallese. In this language, word-final closed syllables arenot heavy, but otherwise heavy syllables attract stress. Words containing afinal syllable with an initial geminate attract stress. The phenomenon isstriking in that word-final geminate syllables are able to attract stress to theexclusion of potentially stress-bearing syllables earlier in the word. Thus,this presents an argument for the representation of moraic geminate onsets andagainst 'flopped' structure.

Chapter 6 departs somewhat from Topintzi's overall direction of argumentation inthat it introduces a number of inconclusive cases of moraic onsets, as well aslanguages in which she believes onset moraicity has been incorrectly or perhapscarelessly proposed. She also considers additional phenomena that are moreproblematically discussed in terms of the role of onset weight, among them tone,reduplication, and certain other metrical features. Notably, Topintzi offersprovocative discussion on the rarity of onset moraicity which she frames interms of the general rarity of onset deletion processes and the conflictingdemands of tone and moraicity on particular types of segments that canpotentially be found in onsets.

EVALUATION

Taking a step back, it would have been perhaps worthwhile to start this book byfirst reading the final chapter of conclusion and discussion before attemptingto delve into the extensively detailed and formal analysis offered in the corechapters of the work. This is because it is in the final chapter that Topintzimakes her most compelling and transparent statement of the facts and phenomenaupon which her theory so explicitly relies. By reading this chapter first, theintricate facts and progression of the author's argument would more readily havefallen into place. While the first chapter of the book surely offers the readeran overview of moraic theory and necessary preliminaries on onset moraicity andweight, it rather quickly delves into an intricate presentation of data and aneven more detailed introduction to several relatively unusual optimalitytheoretic constraints whose ranking and roles require some thoughtful reflectionand understanding on behalf of the uninitiated reader. Furthermore, I ventureto guess that those who have had only basic or introductory exposure tooptimality theoretic analysis and argumentation would not have much lucktackling such a book (or even a chapter of it), as Topintzi's keen, thoughtful,and rather elegant analyses are full of subtleties that likely fall beyond thefamiliarity of many readers. Overall, Topintzi's work is thought-provoking andher presentation of typological data in favor of onset moraicity quite intriguing.

This is not to say, however, that it does not appear to have a few minor butimportant analytical shortcomings. Briefly among these is Topintzi’s attempt toaccount for the seemingly exceptional behavior of Karo stress. While Topintziunderstandably argues against alternate analyses for various phenomena, herargument against Gabas (1999) on the subject of Karo does not resolve theanalytical dilemma, but instead problematizes the presented alternative analysesby turning focus to the proposition that her reanalysis is ''more promising'' and''more advantageous''. More specifically, while Topintzi’s analysis appears toaccount for a handful of exceptional cases that defy Gabas’ anticipated stressshift, her analysis fails to account for other problematic cases. In order toaddress such recalcitrant data, Topintzi lays blame to unidentified (i.e.presumably mistranscribed) H tone and nasalization in such instances where heranalysis unfortunately falls short. Blumenfeld's (2006) analysis of thislanguage is similarly deemed by the author to be ''less economical''. In this andseveral other instances, the author's stance against previous work is quitestrong. Also somewhat problematic is her frequent use of optimality theoreticcover constraints that act (whether intentionally or not) like phonologicalrules and have the effect of overlooking or overshadowing the intricacies thatthey entail, a practice reminiscent of what she argues against in this bookconcerning the state of knowledge on moraic onsets. These minor criticisms,however, do not detract in any significant way from the overall contribution ofTopintzi's work. Indeed, the subject of onset moraicity is one about whichrelatively few phonologists are aware and one which perhaps even morephonologists are likely to gloss over or conversely to ignore in the face ofbetter known moraic principles (or generalizations) offered in earlier work. The facts presented and principles challenged should provide a true 'realitycheck' when it comes to ideas such as the prosodic inertness of onsets thatphonologists perhaps too often take for granted.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER:
Christopher Green (Ph.D., Indiana University) is a Research Scientist at
the University of Maryland’s Center for Advanced Study of Language. His
work focuses on prosodic phonology, and more specifically on syllabic and
moraic theory and tone in African languages, with a specialization in the
Mande sub-family. Green’s research aims to highlight the descriptive and
theoretical merits of exploring understudied and underdocumented languages
through firsthand field linguistics. Chris’s dissertation, 'Prosodic
phonology in Bamana (Bambara): Syllable complexity, metrical structure, and
tone', explores the phonological changes apparent in an emergent variety of
Bamana spoken in Bamako, Mali, and frames segmental and tonal processes
underway in the language in reference to prosodic structure above the level
of the syllable.